Chapter 180

Unexpectedly, I didn’t dream much of my life before the return.

But when I did, the dreams were so vivid that I felt as if I had returned to that time.

I rode the winds of a storm that had carved a path through the tumult.

A horde of bloodthirsty sharks from the East surged toward the heart of the imperial palace and the Central Army.

“Where is His Majesty the Emperor?”

A soldier cried out with desperation.

Messengers rushed in from every direction, bearing news of despair.

“Princess Sererassie has appeared in the central rear! She is generating a storm!”

“Lady Trentia is holding His Majesty back with guerrilla tactics. He cannot come right now.”

“Justianus and the enemy light cavalry have emerged behind our lines. He is the traitor prince!”

“Lady Helena has been injured. Our heavy cavalry is retreating!”

“Cariosa is coming! First wave breach, second wave breach!”

“News from the northern front! Sir Barbatos’s Iron Knights were reportedly defeated in a skirmish with Duke Seberik of the North!”

While our troops were being cut down, I sat in the commanding tent like a forgotten sack of barley.

In a war that continued to flow normally, there was nothing for a rogue like me to do.

But now the battlefield was thrown into chaos, and the moment had come when a decisive move was needed.

“Duke Valencius?”

“Your Highness. This is dangerous.”

I pushed past the knights and officers who tried to restrain me and gazed upon the enemy forces.

The Eastern sharks were riding the waves they had created, tearing through our ranks.

“Bring me the bronze crown and the staff of the lich.”

“Pardon?”

Every knight gaped at my words.

“That’s a magic tool for dark mages!”

“It’s not something a duke should be using!”

“It’s a magic tool that turns both friend and foe into undead. Grant rest to the fallen soldiers who struggled for His Majesty!”

“The clergy will be horrified. It would be long-term bad for His Majesty…”

I shrugged off all their protests and donned the bronze crown.

“Silence! Honor and priests alike, I wish to live!”

“All our soldiers are devout members of the Church of Light! If Your Highness commands the undead, morale will plummet!”

“They’ll be even happier knowing they can serve His Majesty even in death!”

I shouted, making all sorts of reckless statements.

I held back the charge of the starving shark pack with a wall of corpses, enduring for three hours.

Knowing that Cariosa was obsessed with the white-haired, golden-eyed royalty, I also bought time while playing the bait.

Eventually, the emperor clad in black armor flew down from the sky, and one red head fell to the ground.

Cheers erupted from the command center, and the Eastern sharks scattered in all directions.

Looking at that head, I felt a mix of relief, regret, and sadness, and I wondered why I felt sadness when an enemy’s Sword Master had died.

“Bel? Wake up. Bel!”

I awoke from the nightmare.

* * *

“Rudi?”

Green eyes trembled, urgency laced into the voice, and a halberd called Kaspar was clutched in hand.

“They say Lady Cariosa has arrived at the front gate of the imperial palace. She’s brushing aside the guards and is making her way here. You must escape!”

I lifted my head and surveyed my surroundings.

This was a conference room in the main palace, with constables, guards, and platinum knights bustling about.

“She’s coming!”

“Where is His Majesty the Emperor?”

Having returned yesterday after completing my mission, washed up, and reported in, it seemed I had fallen asleep right here while listening to the situation.

I had been sitting, which left my shoulders and back stiff.

“Your Highness Valencius. I apologize for the intrusion, but this is urgent.”

Fully armed, Lady Trentia approached and effortlessly lifted me up.

She whispered softly in my ear.

“Princess Sererassie has informed me of the situation. Lady Cariosa is coming under the pretense of an audience with His Majesty, so she won’t be able to enter the inner palace. First, you should take refuge in the Crimson Crescent Palace.”

Seeing her sorrowful yet dignified red eyes beyond her raised mask, I shook my head.

“That won’t do. If I run away, it would be as good as confession. Put me down.”

“What do you mean…! Your Highness!”

Despite Lady Trentia’s attempts to hold on to me, I slipped away, light as an eel, out from between her gauntlets.

In the distance, I felt the rise of a blue-gray haze.

“Ha.”

The hunter who had singlehandedly slaughtered dozens of knights, a heavy cavalry regiment, and numerous warlocks before my return.

The conqueror of the East, descendant of Summerlin, Lady Cariosa.

Instead of fleeing, I went out to the main gate of the palace and stood halfway up the marble steps to wait for Cariosa.

At that moment, people began to gather around me one by one.

“What’s going on, everyone?”

I asked, genuinely puzzled, and a veteran chamberlain answered.

“A rude person dares to infringe upon a member of the royal family. How could we stand by quietly?”

“!”

“Though Duke Valencius may have acted in a manner that disregards the royal name and dignity, we cannot treat you the same way.”

The implication was clear: just because you were a rogue didn’t mean we had to abandon you.

I arrogantly smiled, as if I had expected this.

Perhaps they took it as a kind of bluff, for the chamberlain gritted his teeth.

One by one, the platinum knights and elite troops positioned themselves beside me.

Lady Trentia placed her hand on her weapon, and Rudi, hidden behind the flowerbed and trees beside the stairs, aimed at Cariosa with Kaspar.

As if Princess Sererassie had cast a spell from the rooftop, dark clouds loomed over the imperial palace, and thunder rumbled.

Boom! Crash!

With the sound of thunder as a backdrop, Cariosa approached.

Her disheveled hair was tied back tightly, and she wore shark scale-like silvery armor with two swords at her side.

Perhaps it was because she was as tall as I was, or because of the killing intent swirling around her like a haze, but the guards and knights surrounding her appeared diminished.

For a brief moment, our eyes met.

Her vertical black pupils bore into me.

Did you orchestrate all this?

I laughed like a rogue.

Arrogantly and audaciously laughed.

“How rude!”

An experienced royal attendant dashed out.

With a sharp and decisive voice, the guards gained her attention for an instant.

But the rage of a great noble defies not only the laws made by humans but also the laws of nature and physics.

As Seberik lowered his gaze, Cariosa summoned a storm.

She brushed aside the attendants as if they were mere ants.

This time, the guards stood in her way.

Each one elite, many of them mana users.

The leader of the guards blocked Cariosa’s path.

“Lady Cariosa Summerlin Asenorta, His Majesty the Emperor is still asleep. I do not understand why you seek an audience this morning, but remember that entering the palace armed is a grave offense. You are committing a tremendous act of disrespect right now.”

That was a good response.

It would have worked if the opponent had been an average knight.

But Cariosa laughed dismissively at the guards.

“Then try to stop me.”

She bared her shark-like teeth.

“Given the dignity of a duke, I am allowing this rudeness—”

“‘Allowing?’ Do you not comprehend who is allowing whom?”

“!”

“Know that I stand before you without having had my head taken off and that my lineage will remember this glory.”

Cariosa pushed past the guards.

Yet, the elite guard who had maintained a position within the top ten of the swordsmanship department at the Academy for years wouldn’t back down so easily.

They had heard words from the trainers, professors, and the respected platinum knights they had aspired to for a decade.

[Not feeling fear, but overcoming fear is courage.]

[Not fleeing in front of a stronger opponent is the honor of a guard.]

[We fight for a day we will eventually die for the imperial family.]

Such sentiments should never be taken lightly.

Ultimately, human beings seek to explain or sustain their lives with words, and that reveals itself in the most desperate moments.

“I hereby arrest Lady Cariosa Summerlin Asenorta for infringing upon the imperial palace! You kneel and bow immediately!”

I chuckled as I looked down at the guards and Lady Cariosa.

Lady Cariosa smiled at me.

It was a grin that coexisted with exhilaration and joy, that of a bloodthirsty hunter.

“Wait.”

The next moment, four guards rushed in to subdue Lady Cariosa.

“Seize her!”

Boom!

A wall of wind erupted, and the four guards soared above adult height before tumbling down the steps.

The clang of armored suits echoed with each impact against the stairs.

“…I am Corzen of the Platinum Knights.”

“I am Cariosa of Asenorta.”

“Let us leave the introductions at that.”

Sir Corzen lowered his mask and leaped down the stairs, striking with his sword.

A fierce blue mana blade shone brightly, and the strike was so forceful that even the cliff would split apart.

In the next moment, two swords were drawn from Lady Cariosa’s hands at a speed hard to discern.

In her right hand was a thick, dark blue blade of rough texture, the storm.

In her left was a slender, turquoise-bladed sword with a gentle feel, the breeze.

The very twin blades that had slaughtered several imperial battalions before my return.

Boom!

First, the storm surged forth and sent Sir Corzen soaring into the sky.

She had effortlessly dismissed a strike generated by her full weight, solely using the strength of her arms.

Taking advantage of the opening, the breeze shot upwards.

Blue-gray and dark blue mana swirled in a spiral, the breeze.

The platinum knights’ heavy armor was reinforced at the joints, making it impervious to attack from any angle, but the breeze forced its way through the steel plate, piercing Sir Corzen’s right armpit.

Red blood flowed between the plates, and the platinum knights leaped into action all at once.

I silently observed the scene.

* * *

Lady Cariosa now looked at Duke Valencius, no more than thirty paces away, with a sly smile.

Since childhood, she had been quite taken with the appearance of the royalty.

With their haughty demeanor, platinum hair, and inhuman golden eyes.

‘I always wanted to have at least one by my side. Looks like I can have the throne along with it.’

A crooked smile appeared on Cariosa’s lips.

By now, other nobles from the East would be toasting to her foolishness in confronting the mightiest emperor of humanity.

Filled with hope for dividing her fleets, plains, and ports.

But the Eastern white shark never targets prey it cannot win.

‘The Emperor will never show himself. That child is no longer a monster.’

The hunter’s instinct is most sensitive when targeting its prey, and through a year of observation, she had discerned how Jeilliris had changed.

‘Whether by choice or compulsion, she seems bent on becoming an emperor from a tyrant. Planities, Purioaito, and Gremoryus have all tried to resolve things quietly. Even knowing that the people of the Central region fear those from the North, they still provided food support and donated to the Church, even meeting with a saint.’

This gave Cariosa conviction.

‘Now Jeilliris is no longer a monster who can simply be eliminated or spared.’

‘I have no children, and as an only daughter, it’s impossible for me to be killed and replaced with some easily manipulatable new duke.’

‘Whatever I do, I will survive. There are no other nobles capable of stabilizing the East besides me. Will the emperor personally venture to the East to face the sea breeze and scour over ten thousand islands just to hunt down pirates and the Undersea People?’

In her first year of reign, Jeilliris had slaughtered violently, while she had remained silent under the surface.

Whether Jeilliris died and the East became a paradise for the Undersea People, it seemed like she would simply allow it to happen.

But not anymore.

She was now striving to become the emperor of the empire, and Cariosa was just a vassal of the empire.

This meant she was someone who needed to be protected and utilized.

In the end, it all comes down to manipulating the opponent’s mind.

Bit by bit, she would gnaw at the softest parts, draining the strength awaybefore knocking them down.

‘If she comes out herself, she must kill me for the sake of her reputation. But if she kills me, there’ll be no substitutes, so she won’t come out at all.’

Without substitutes, one had no choice but to endure the tyranny of subordinates.

Thus, Asenorta has continued to protect the ports of the other great lords of the East, even at a loss.

For if they could not maintain their own navy, the emperor would think there was no family to guard the seas in place of Asenorta.

Only then would they turn a blind eye to whatever wrongdoing she did.

The platinum knights gathered around.

The second most powerful sword mage of the empire held his sword with the smile of a predator.